Life Photographer Henri Dauman’s Intimate Shots of Brigitte Bardot, Elvis Presley, and More

ELVIS PRESLEY

Dauman lamented that this was one of the last intimate photos of Elvis Presley (at Graceland after being released from the Army, in 1960), who soon fell under controlling manager Colonel Parker. “This is about the last time that anybody really photographed him close. A curtain fell over,” he said.

ROBERT REDFORD

Dauman also took a picture of Robert Redford in his New York City home, in 1969, with his young son, whose likeness to the star stuck with Dauman over half a century later. “The spitting image of his father!” he said.

BRIGITTE BARDOT

Brigitte Bardot between takes on the set of Louis Malle’s A Very Private Affair, in Spoleto, Italy, in 1961, draped in sheets and illuminated by natural light. “She was in a contemplative mood,” Dauman remembered.

JUDY GARLAND AND LIZA MINNELLI

Judy Garland in her dressing room preparing for a concert with daughter Liza Minnelli in Philadelphia, 1961. “Judy Garland was a fantastic performer, but in private, it’s a little bit like Marilyn Monroe. It takes forever to get ready,” he said. “All kinds of nervousness before a performance.”

JANE FONDA

Dauman says that while shooting Jane Fonda in her New York bedroom, in 1963, he made an eerie prediction about Fonda’s relationship with French director Roger Vadim. “If you ever go to France, you will see!” he told Fonda. “Vadim is going to spot you, you’re going to be his next woman!” A few years later, Fonda and Vadim were married.

MILES DAVIS

Miles Davis, Randall’s Island Jazz Festival, New York, August 1960. Dauman took this photo at the height of the civil-rights movement, but to him, it was only about the jazz. “When I photographed talent, I never made a difference between what color they were,” he said. “Just a human being.”

MARILYN MONROE

Marilyn Monroe receiving the David di Donatello Award for best foreign actress for The Prince and the Showgirl, with Anna Magnani, in New York, 1959. How did Dauman achieve such a candid photo of the actress? “I always shoot with both eyes open, so my left looks as well as the right eye,” he said. “Two eyes is never enough!”

FEDERICO FELLINI

Hands over his head, Federico Fellini gives a perplexed glare to the camera, in New York, 1970. His expression, said Dauman, is an accidental product of his own direction. “I wanted him to move in a certain direction, so with my index finger, I put it against his nose and I moved him a little bit. And that’s his reaction!”

HARPO MARX

Harpo Marx gives his classic “Watch out here I come” leer to model Marianne Meldau at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, in 1961. Chatting with Marx, said Dauman, was a once in a lifetime experience—because he never spoke in any of his films. “Everything I had seen in the movies, he never uttered a word!”

MARLENE DIETRICH

LAUREN BACALL

Dauman was struck by Lauren Bacall’s dedication to her work—he photographed the actress here at rehearsal for the Broadway production of Applause, in New York, 1969. “She was very disciplined,” he said, “and very strict with herself. She knew what she was best at.”

MORGAN FREEMAN

An all African-American production of Hello, Dolly! was one of the earliest acting experiences for Morgan Freeman, photographed here with Cab Calloway during an RCA recording of the show, at Webster Hall, New York, 1967 . “So many people—actors, artists, writers—that I photographed were absolutely not known when I photographed them,” said Dauman.

YVES ST. LAURENT

Yves St. Laurent on Seventh Avenue in New York, 1958. While shooting a portfolio on the burgeoning designer, Dauman took his fellow Frenchman on a tour of New York City. “We went to maybe Rockefeller Center, the usual places, Times Square. At the time, New York was very different,” said Dauman.